Life History

Caroline Terry Woodward and and George W Woodward are both reported inthe 1880 census as widowed. Yet they are living in homes next door toeach other! Caroline is in her widowed and remarried father'shousehold, reported as Caroline Woodward, widow. George is head ofthe household next door, also reported as widowed. In 1910 they areliving three doors apart, when George is married to Caroline's sisterMary Terry Selph.

Another compilation provides more detail on the record of marriage forGeorge W Woodard and Mary Self (spelled Selph in some instances), whoappears to be Mary E Terry, whose first husband was Nathaniel Self,but whose grave says she died on 1 Apr 1881.

This Caroline Terry appears to be Mary's sister. In the 1880 census,Caroline is enuemrated in her father's home under the name CarolineWoodward. Yet Caroline was reported as a widow. Was this anenumerator error? In the 1880 census, next door to Isom, his new wifeCelia and his daughter Caroline Woodward, is George W Woodward, whoappears to be the same person reported as Caroline's husband in theirmarriage record. But George is also reported as widowed.

Maybe Caroline and George were divorced. But in that case, why wouldCaroline's sister take the chance of marrying the same GeorgeWashington Woodward a years later? And in George's 1880 household isMary Self, also a widow, who matches Caroline's sister and Isom'sdaughter Mary E Terry, who married Nathaniel Self.

Mary is reported as George's niece. I initially thought it wasthrough her husband Nathaniel Selph, and a few hours later was able toconfirm that when I found his mother's memorial on Find a Grave. Hismother was Mary Woodward, George's sister.

The name and designation of the two children is confusing. ElizabethSelf is documented in family information as Mary's daughter, but shehas the same designation as Robert Terry. They are reported as"Son/Daughter of the <unreadable, looks like the letter W>". The twochildren have the same birth states reported for themselves andparents. They appear to be siblings, both children of Mary. Then whythe different surnames? But Mary and Nathaniel are reported to havehad only one child.

June Yeager, a granddaughter of of Elizabeth, reports to me thatElizabeth was the only child of Mary and Nathaniel before he died ofgas poisoning while digging a water well.

In the 1880 census, next door to George on the other side is anotherWoodward household, headed by John C, with his wife Sarah C andseveral children.

In 1881, George married his niece (by marriage apparently) Mary ETerry Self.

Previous censuses have reported George born in Kentucky and both hisparents in Kentucky.

Another aspect of the family configuration is confirmed in this censusalso, when I find Caroline (spelled Carolina here) and her secondhusband Presely Bowman living only three hosues away. The censusreports this is the first marriage for Presely and the second forCaroline.

This seems to confirm that George and Caroline were divorced. Thismeans the report in 1880 that they were widowed was incorrect assurmised. And Mary Terry Selph does seem to have married Georgedepsite the fact that he and her sister Caroline had divorced.

"Mary marrying Caroline's first husband George Woodward jibes withwhat dad had always been told. It is her grave at Ft Douglas. My dadand I would tramp around Ft Douglas, Bowman Holler, Haw Creek andthereabouts when I was a girl. I thought it was like another time. Ihave some family collectibles of Caroline. My grandma was born on topof Bowman Holler. They were kind of wild in there I think."-- Jami Sue Yarger Brandt, Geneanet Messaging to Orville BoydJenkins, 28 April 2015